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Guide to a Successful Web Site

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Guide to a Successful Web Site

Although advertising is the most common use by business of the Internet, there are other equally important applications. Some businesses set up web sites to provide sales support or technical support. They put online catalogs to allow potential customers to cost-effectively get information without tying up an employee on the phone (see Cisco). Others provide publicity for their products by giving samples. The Thomas Register lets you search for manufacturers from its directory for free in hopes that it will attract other businesses to be listed. Other businesses simply want to provide goodwill, such as CBS and Disney.

You must cater to the demographics of the Internet

I hope you are aware that currently a large proportion of the users on the Internet are college students who get free accounts as a benefit of their enrollment. This explains why Zima Beer and Hot Wired are hot desinations on the web. The demographics of the Internet are rapidly changing, however, as more and more people from a variety of backgrounds become connected. You have a better chance at success if you cater to the types of users that are likely to see your page, namely students, computer professionals, upper middle class, Generation Xers, Yuppies.

You must offer a service or provide information that will draw users to your site

This is true unless your business has wide name recognition. Microsoft has no problem getting people to access their site, even people who are not sure what they will find. In contrast, CD-Now appeared from out of nowhere and now sells millions of dollars of CD's, primarily because they provide an incredible database of music information (low prices and convience doesn't hurt either). Unlike traditional advertising (e.g. print media, television, billboards), it will not be a chance occurrence for people to be exposed to the information on your pages. Each person makes a conscious decision to select your site and you must try to provide something that potential customers can't find anywhere else.

You probably won't be able to charge for the information provided by your site

Most users today see the Internet as wide open and free of charge. It is therefore difficult (but certainly not impossible) to create a viable service that you charge for. In addition, since the Internet is not 100% secure, many users are leery of using it for commerce. There are currently several methods available for making payments over the Internet, but there is a great deal of user reluctance (based mostly on unfamiliarity and fear of security breaches). Currently, 99% of the sites charge nothing for accessing the information on their sites. To make purchases, businesses on the net usually use conventional methods.

If your information is so valuable that it can't easily be obtained anywhere else, then you may be able to charge for the service or information. Regardless, you should still provide a free service to attract people to your site again and again (See Security APL's Stock Quote Server). The costs involved in providing free services should be considered part of the costs of advertising.

Overt advertising should usually be kept low-key and appropriate to the purpose of your site

Many of the users who will connect to your site will have expectations about what they will see there. They may resent what they consider to be a blatant advertisement. For example, a user who was accessing a site focusing primarily on movies probably wouldn't mind seeing an ad for an upcoming feature, but might easily be offended if a cereal was loudly being promoted. This does not mean that all advertising on the Internet is rejected. People just resent the "in you face" type of advertising and prefer to see ads which are appropriate and are subtle or informative. Visitors to the Rolling Stones site don't mind perusing the catalog of Stones related memorabilia because it is presented in a context that Stones fans can appreciate.

Provide information that will make a person want to buy your product or service

This is obvious and is included for completeness. A web page provides a form of advertising and the goal of all adverstising is to get someone to buy your product or service. Once you've attracted a person to your web site, you must make sure they become aware of your product or service. You must make it easy for them to contact you not only electronically, but by conventional methods as well (i.e. mail, fax, phone). Just like conventional methods, you must entice them with special offers or other marketing techniques.

Half the battle is being able to properly publicize your site

What good is a site if nobody comes (this ain't no "Field of Dreams"). On the World Wide Web, there are over two dozen directories of other sites, including Yahoo. Once your site provides enough information to be useful and is fully debugged, your first step is to notify these directories of your existence and seek to get links to your site.

To further enhance your publicity efforts, you should attempt to identify all of the sites that would possibly be willing to add a link to your site and then contact the webmaster at each of these sites. These would be smaller specialized directories or sites focusing on material realted to the information on your site.

There are also several conventional methods for publicity that should also be considered (free listings in newspapers, magazines, BBS references, etc.). Of course, you should also modify your stationery, print advertisements, brochures and any other marketing information you produce so that it provides the location of your Internet web home page.

Constantly change the information on your site to attract repeat connections

Time-Warner's Universe provides infomation that changes daily. All of the most successful sites provide constantly changing information. There is one exception to this rule: provide so much valuable information that it is impossible for someone to absorb it all. The US Postal Service provides a ZIP+4 lookup database that tells you the ZIP+4 for any address in the United States.

Your pages should be well-designed

This means not only do your pages need to have an interesting layout and compelling graphics, but more importantly, the information you provide should be organized in such a way that it is easy for users to locate what it is they need. City Net is a simple well-designed site that lets you get to the information you need without needless delay.

You must be aware of basic rules, such as "Don't put too much or too little content on one page" and "Don't include too many (or any) large graphics files in your pages unless you provide a way for the user to access them separately".

Many of the sites already mentioned in this article provide attractive, unique and exciting designs (e.g. Hot Wired, Time-Warner's Universe). For another example of a good-looking web site, check out Inter@ctive Week.

Encourage and respond to user feedback

This is extremely important. Your users will provide you with some of your best ideas. We've seen too many sites flounder as a result of ignoring user requests. Provide links and forms to allow users to provide feedback. Create standard E-mail form letters to handle typical inquiries.

Do it as soon as you can

Within a few years, it is conceivable that almost every computer user will regularly access the Internet. You will increase your chances of success in cyberspace if you stake your claim now. Do not expect immediate success or sales from your efforts (although it is very possible). Remember, you will be building a presence for the future. If you can establish yourself on the Internet before your competitors have a chance to, they will find it that much harder to come up with a new service that hasn't already been done.

They will also discover that the costs needed to develop a successful web site will only increase as time goes by. In order to draw attention to their site, they will have to offer more bells and whistles than the other guy and this will cost more money. The Internet today is akin to the personal computer software industry in the early 1980's. During that time, thousands of entrepreneurs made millions with investments of less than $1,000, developing primitive word processors and games. Today, in order to compete with the software giants, you must now have millions to properly package, distribute and market the product and your ultimate success is less probable. We are in a new era that permits "cottage industries" to challenge the Goliaths. NandO is a news organization based in North Carolina that provides some of the best sports coverage on the web (where is Sports Illustrated?).

If you belong to a large company, it is even that much more imperative that you get your presence known on the web NOW. Word Perfect started in a garage and eventually stole the word processing market from Wang. Apple now sells more PC's than IBM. History is littered with companies that didn't see changes coming until it was too late. Before somebody else tried to create the "Playboy" of the Internet, Playboy made sure they did it themselves. In about five years, we'll know which companies weren't paying attention to the changes going on all around us.